Calendar Man

Calendar Man

Calendar Man (as seen in "Batman: The Long Halloween")
Tim Sale, artist.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Detective Comics #259 (September 1958)
Created by Bill Finger
In-story information
Alter ego Julian Gregory Day
Team affiliations The Misfits
Notable aliases Calendar Killer
Abilities Genius-level intellect
Obsession with quirks of calendar
Successful inventor
Skilled hand-to-hand combatant
Expert maniputor

Calendar Man (real name Julian Gregory Day) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, as an enemy of Batman. Calendar Man is known for committing crimes that correspond with holidays and significant dates. He often wears costumes to correlate with the date of the designated crime.

Publication history

Calendar Man first appeared in Detective Comics #259 (Sept. 1958) and was created by Bill Finger.[1]

Fictional character biography

Calendar Man is fascinated by dates and calendars. His crimes always have a relationship to the date that they are committed. The theme may be related to what day of the week it is or to a holiday or to a special anniversary on that date; he will plan his crime around that day. He often wears different costumes which correspond to the significance of the date, though he does have a main costume which has various numbers (meant to represent days on a calendar) sprouting from the shoulders.[1]

After his first appearance, in which his crimes were based on the seasons of the year, his next appearance was in Batman #312 (June 1979), where his crimes were based on the days of the week, and his costumes reflected the Norse and Roman gods they were named for, i.e. Saturn. The hunt for him proves dangerous for Batman considering a confrontation on Thursday led to him being hit with Calendar Man's ultrasonic sound weapon and almost killed, forcing him to convalesce in bed for days while the supervillain committed his Friday and Saturday crimes without serious opposition. On Sunday, knowing that the police would be waiting for him to attempt to steal an artifact of the Egyptian God of the Sun, Ra, he planned to leave the city instead on a train called the Western Sun Express. Fortunately, Batman realized this move and captured him at the train station before he boarded.

This issue also marked the first appearance of his most commonly known "calendar cape" costume. His next appearance in Batman #384-385 (June–July 1985) and Detective Comics #551 (June 1985), sees the Calendar Man at the onset of the Crisis being used as a pawn of the Monitor in an attempt to find someone to potentially eliminate the Batman for profit. In this instance, the Calendar Man's theme is holidays, and he attempts to use the young Jason Todd, as Robin, as the Batman's Achilles' heel with the promise of his demise on the first day of Spring, but it is ultimately Robin who is responsible for his defeat.

His crimes are generally petty and often ridiculous in nature with unnecessary flashiness. For instance, at the conclusion of Day's week spree, he took the time to needlessly change into his calendar cape costume at the train station even while Batman was in hot pursuit. As such, he is notorious among both heroes and villains alike for being something of a joke. Consequently, his post-Crisis appearances have been few and far between. He was once recruited by Killer Moth to form the villain team known as "The Misfits".

Batman: The Long Halloween

His best-known latter day appearance is in the mini-series Batman: The Long Halloween, where he is portrayed as a Hannibal Lecter-like figure, offering insight in Batman's search for Holiday, a serial killer who uses holidays as his modus operandi.[2][3] Like Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Calendar Man knows who the killer is and keeps this information to himself, choosing instead to taunt the heroes with cryptic clues. He returns in that story's sequel, Batman: Dark Victory. In both stories, he is bitter that the new murderous rogues have taken the attention off him; Day fears that he is being forgotten. He is seriously harmed by Sofia Falcone near the end of Dark Victory, described as being barely alive and having his jaw broken.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat

Calendar Man is also known for teaming up with Catman and Killer Moth as part of The Misfits, a group of third-rate villains trying to prove themselves, in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #7-9 (1992–1993).[1] Also, he is among the Arkham Asylum inmates freed by Bane in Batman: Knightfall, but he is easily recaptured by Power Girl shortly after his escape.

Team Titans

He appears in Team Titans #14 (Nov '93). He and several other time-based villains, including Time Commander, fight the title's heroes over a valued hourglass.

All the Deadly Days

Day appears in the third issue of the 80 Page Giant Batman Special Edition (July 2000) entitled "All the Deadly Days". He has acquired a new high-tech costume, and moves up to more grandiose crimes.

Superman: Arkham

Day makes an appearance in the alternate reality story Superman: Arkham (beginning in Superman Vol. 2 #160). As the story begins, the Joker has recently stolen the reality-altering powers of Superman's enemy Mr. Mxyzptlk. In the warped planet Earth created by the Joker, Superman is a prisoner of Arkham Asylum, in the custody of warden Solomon Grundy and his assistant Calendar Man. Day's appearance is carried over from his revitalization in Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, which was also written by Jeph Loeb.

Harley Quinn

Day appears in Harley Quinn's series, as an inside informant to the fugitive.

52

In Week 20 of the weekly series 52, a radio broadcasts a message saying that Calendar Man was left tied up for the cops in Gotham City, even though there is no Batman. It is revealed the new heroine Batwoman was responsible for his capture.[4]

The New 52

In books of The New 52, a reboot of the DC Comics universe, the character appears as a lifestyle reporter in a series of backup stories called "Channel 52". In one, he claims to have kept up a video diary out of scavenged materials because basic human civilization has fallen and Day fears nobody else will be recording the day-to-day events.[5]

Powers and abilities

Calendar Man is a successful inventor, capable of designing the machinery needed to deploy his various schemes. His talents aid him as he pursues his obsession with quirks of the calendar, carefully planning and theming his crimes around holidays. Calendar Man is also an experienced hand-to-hand combatant, although his main reason for his success is his intelligence.

Other versions

Batman: Brave and the Bold

The Batman: Brave and the Bold version of Calendar Man appears in the story "Last Christmas!" He plans a Christmas crime, only to encounter Batman. When a zeta beam teleports Batman away, he claims it to be a Christmas Miracle, minutes before Earth is destroyed. After Batman and Adam Strange restore Earth, Batman proceeds to easily defeat Calendar Man.

Batman Beyond

An older Calendar Man appears in the Batman Beyond comic book arc "Hush Beyond". From his wheelchair, he builds a greeting card rigged to explode, intending to kill Commissioner Gordon. Batman arrives to stop him, only to be confronted by Hush.[6] Hush mentions that Batman's "true family" is his many enemies and he plans to destroy it. He then proceeds to kill Calendar Man.[7]

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Calendar Man appears in Injustice: Gods Among Us's prequel comic, in Chapter Fifteen, he is frustrated when Robin does not recognize him, and attempts to remind Wonder Woman of an encounter they had where she broke one of his ribs as she thwarted a crime he was attempting to commit, and becomes despondent when she only glares at him. In Chapter Sixteen, he takes part in Harley Quinn's riot and helps Killer Croc hold Batman down as the Riddler prepares to crush his skull with a large rock, but Batman breaks free thanks to Green Arrow. Calendar Man is next seen fightning Nightwing, but is easily held back by the hero. Calendar Man is last seen among the inmates who sorrowfully watch Batman carry Nightwing's body out of the Asylum.

Batman: Arkham Knight

Calendar Man appears in Batman: Arkham Knight comic. On Labor Day, Calendar Man murdered several people inside the Campbell Calendar Company. It was all just a plan to draw out Batman however. The Arkham Knight had given him Electrocutioner's gauntlets to disable Batman's communications. To Batman's great surprise, Calendar Man had gathered seven clones of Solomon Grundy, named after each day of the week, whom Calendar Man claimed to have created. Over the week it took Batman to defeat all of the creatures, Calendar Man had kidnapped a newborn baby. He gave the exhausted Batman a list of names and told him that those people had been poisoned and had 24 hours to live. He instructed Batman to save them all and then return to him. If Batman failed to save all of the people on the list or brought any of his allies with him when he returned, Calendar Man would execute the baby. The listed citizens were saved but before Batman returned as ordered, Scarecrow visited Julian to dissuade him of his attempt to kill Batman. Grudgingly, Calendar Man relented and gave up the baby without a fight.

In other media

Television

Video games

Musicals

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wallace, Daniel (2008). "Calendar Man". In Dougall, Alastair. The DC Comics Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 65. ISBN 0-7566-4119-5. OCLC 213309017.
  2. "The Best & Worst Batman Villains". ign.com.
  3. "15 Batman Villains That Deserve Their Movie Due". screenrant.com.
  4. "52" Week Twenty
  5. Phegley, Kiel (January 29, 2013). "DC Spreads The Word With "Channel 52"". Comic Book Resources.
  6. Batman Beyond #3 (July 2010)
  7. Batman Beyond #3 (August 2010)
  8. "Interview". Collider.com. 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  9. Steinbeiser, Andrew (July 11, 2015). "Gotham Producers Discuss Joker's Role & Mr. Freeze For Season 2". Comic Book.
  10. http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/27/arkham-city-game-demo/
  11. Hernandez, Patricia (November 17, 2014). "It Took Three Years For People To Find This Arkham City Easter Egg". Kotaku. Retrieved July 8, 2015. Turns out, if you set your PC to the date December 13th, 2004, you trigger special Calendar Man dialogue—which you can see in the clip above. The date seems random, but players speculate that it's tied to a very special date. That's the year that the developer behind the game, Rocksteady, was founded after all.
  12. Hernandez, Patricia (July 1, 2015). "Batman: Arkham Knight's True Ending Has A Cool Easter Egg". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
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